WEST CHESTER, PA -- MEI reports that Coca-Cola Bottling Company United (Birmingham, AL) has deployed MEI Easitrax with telemetry in three of its 10 markets, totaling 7,000 online machines. The company operates some 30,000 machines on 120 routes across Alabama, Georgia, Mississippi, South Carolina, Louisiana and Tennessee.

Since deploying the technology, CCBCU has been able to increase route efficiencies by 25%, MEI claims.

"This has really helped catapult our company's profitability," said David Sours, director of commercial leadership for CCBCU. "We have dramatically increased route efficiency, closed the loop on cash accountability and improved driver productivity. And we've improved customer service by being more proactive in servicing machines."

The deployment followed a trial on a 250-machine route in Chattanooga, TN, that delivered a 150% ROI and productivity improvements in cases per fill, stops per day and cases per day for each driver, MEI added. In that test, CCBCU went from an average of 13 service calls a week on that route to one or fewer per week.

The bottling company also has found that adding telemetry to the Easitrax vending management system reduced wear and tear on trucks.

CCBCU plans to roll out the complete MEI solution, including telemeters and driver handheld devices, throughout its remaining seven markets and 23,000 machines by 2013.

Easitrax is a scalable, extensible management software and hardware solution developed specifically for vending, office refreshment and pure water service operations.